World’s Largest Securities Clearinghouse Points to Next Panic

Most investors are acquainted with major exchange clearinghouses such as those at the CME or COMEX. But the largest securities clearinghouse in the world is one that few have heard of. It’s the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., or DTCC.

The DTCC clears practically all listed stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, most corporate bonds and U.S. Treasury securities. When you get your brokerage or 401(k) statements, you don’t get stock certificates any longer. You get a printed or online statement from your broker or wealth manager.

The actual securities have been digitized and are cleared, settled and held at the DTCC. As shown in this article, the DTCC sees a new financial panic on the horizon, one that will be worse than 2008.

The DTCC sees this threat arising from cyberattacks on the financial system. These attacks may originate not merely with hackers or thieves, but with state actors looking to disable the U.S. in the ongoing financial wars.

Your best defense against this is to diversify your assets away from just stocks and bonds. Good alternatives include cash in the bank, physical gold and silver, alternative assets such as private equity that do not rely on digital clearing and other hard assets including land and natural resources.

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